American Airlines Flight 718, the first commercial Boeing 737 MAX flight in the United States since regulators withdrew from the ground for 20 months in November, takes off from Miami, Florida, on December 29, 2020.
Marco Bello | Reuters
American Airlines expects the impact of the coronavirus pandemic to continue to weigh on demand and projected schedules for 2021, the company’s president said Tuesday.
The airline in Fort Worth, Texas, is flying about 45% of its 2019 schedule this month, Robert Isom told reporters at Miami International Airport, ahead of the debut of Boeing’s first U.S. flight 737 Max with commercial passengers since it landed almost two years ago.
“We anticipate that this will last in January and February. We hope the vaccine shows some promise,” he said.
American and its competitors have warned investors in recent weeks that an increase in Covid-19 cases and new travel restrictions have hurt fourth-quarter revenue, despite a rebound in travelers during the year-end holidays.